Curses through a Mirror
by PanicParables
Summary: Harry spends the summer at the Order's headquarters and tries to teach himself curses he will need to fight Voldemort. Snape Harry nonslash angst fic. Round Robin by Panic Parables yahoo group. Now Complete
1. Curses

Panic Parables Round Robin Fic  
  
Chapter One  
  
By: chips challenge  
  
"Avada Kedavra!"  
  
Blood-red eyes. Green light. Darkness.  
  
Harry forced his eyes open before the green light could reach him. He wouldn't die if he woke up before the light hit him. When Harry opened his eyes, he was sitting in his room staring at his empty closet that was illuminated by just the streetlight from outside his window. He'd only been at the Dursley's for a week, but this was how he'd managed to wake up every night. Harry took a deep breath and concentrated on calming himself down.  
  
You won't get me that easily,' Harry thought. He was pretty sure that the dream had come from Voldemort. Not just this dream, but each and every one of the dreams he had for the last week. In the dreams, Voldemort was always powerful and Harry was always weak. Harry could never run. He often couldn't get hold of his wand, and when he could, his voice seemed to disappear.  
  
It will never be that easy for you. I'm not really that weak,' Harry thought.  
  
Really? And what exactly would you have really done?'  
  
Harry couldn't answer that question even for himself. Sure, he knew the spells and charms that he had learned along with everyone else at Hogwarts, but he also knew that a jellylegs curse would likely be useless against someone or something really threatening.  
  
Then again, maybe he was that weak; however, the dreams only made him more determined not to let Voldemort win.  
  
Harry awoke the next morning to the persistent rattling of his windowpane. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Hedwig giving him an indignant look from the other side of the glass.  
  
Harry sat up quickly squinting from the bright sunlight, and stumbled over to the window. After he pulled open the window, Hedwig soared into the room and perched on his desk. Harry untied the package around his owl's leg. It was a heavy package; he hoped that Hedwig hadn't had to carry it far.  
  
He started to unwrap the brown paper of the package, and the first things that fell out were some owl treats. Harry gathered them in his hand and held them out to Hedwig. After the owl had taken all the treats, Harry continued opening the package. One book fell out, and then another, and finally a letter. Harry picked up the letter first. He noticed the Hogwarts seal right away. Were these his O.W.L. results? He remembered Professor McGonagall telling him not to expect them until the time he usually got his Hogwart's letter, but maybe they'd finished the marking early. Or was this his Hogwart's letter? Maybe they were just sending them out early this year.  
  
He tore open the seal and unfolded the letter.  
  
Dear Mr. Potter.  
  
I hope your holidays are going well so far. Thank you for writing regular letters to let everyone know that you are all right. I trust that your stay with your relatives is pleasant. I predict that you might have some extra time on your hands this summer, so I have sent you some books to read. Consider them an early birthday present. Enjoy your summer.  
  
Sincerely, Professor Dumbledore  
  
Maybe Dumbledore was finally going to start helping him prepare for his inevitable fight with Voldemort instead of his usual round about methods. Like just sending me to fight a Basilisk,' Harry thought bitterly.  
  
He curiously picked up the first of the books and looked at the title. "Quidditch Strategies for a Top Notch Captain." He threw the book back down on his bed and reached for the other. "How to win at Wizard Chess against any Opponent."  
  
Harry swept both of the books onto the floor with his arm and grabbed a fresh piece of parchment. What was Dumbledore trying to say? That he should just sit back and think about Quidditch or chess while Voldemort was planning the best ways to kill him. Harry felt his head throbbing. Dumbledore would be of no help at all.  
  
Harry made out a letter to the owner of Flourish and Blotts asking for advance books in Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions. Then he made out another letter to the owner of the shop in Knockturn Alley that he had accidentally landed in during his second year asking for some dueling books. He didn't sign that letter, but just asked the owner to return the books with the owl. Then, he attached some wizard money to the letter and sent Hedwig out.  
  
It seemed that if he wanted to survive his next year that he would just have to help himself. He wasn't going to waste time playing games or learning subjects that didn't matter. He then pulled out his Muggle clothes from his trunk and got dressed for the day.  
  
"Crucio!"  
  
Harry had his wand pointed at his opponent in front of him, and he opened his mouth to voice the incantation for a body bind, but he couldn't move his wrist. No,' Harry thought. Not again.'  
  
"Avada Kedavra!"  
  
Harry's eyes flew open, and the first thing he saw was another pair of eyes staring right back at him.  
  
Harry jumped and bit back a scream. He scrambled for his wand.  
  
"Harry calm down, it's just me," a familiar voice said.  
  
Harry felt a wave of relief as his hand felt the familiar surface of his wand, and he looked more carefully in the direction of the voice.  
  
"Lumos!" the voice said.  
  
"Remus? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just didn't want to wake up your relatives."  
  
Harry nodded, but didn't say anything. He was waiting for an answer to his question.  
  
"I'm here to take you to Grimmauld Place."  
  
Harry shook his head. He didn't ever want to go back to the evil place. Not ever. Nothing good could happen there.  
  
"I'd rather just stay here, if that's all right. The Dursley's have been treating me really well this summer, and I have loads of time here to get my schoolwork done. I don't want to be underfoot all the time."  
  
"It wasn't exactly a request, Harry. You have to come."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You're not safe here."  
  
"What do you mean? That was always Dumbledore's excuse for sending me here," Harry said.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore also told you only to send letters to members of the Order, didn't he?"  
  
Harry nodded slowly trying to figure out where this was going. He hadn't sent any letters to his friends. He only sent the required letters to the Order. Except for yesterday, his owl hadn't even brought any letters back in return. Yesterday.... The letters to the shopkeepers, but how did Dumbledore know about that?  
  
"I didn't sign my name to those letters," Harry insisted.  
  
"That doesn't matter. Your owl is not exactly stealth. She was protected only when coming to Grimmauld Place. And you did request some rather suspicious literature."  
  
"Is Hedwig all right?"  
  
"She's fine. She's waiting for you at Grimmauld Place. What possessed you to put yourself in danger like that? You could have just asked me or Professor Dumbledore to get the books for you."  
  
"Did you see the books Professor Dumbledore sent me?" Harry demanded.  
  
"Yes I did. What is wrong with them? I helped him pick them out. We figured you would be tired of reading about your school subjects if the only books you had were your school books."  
  
"Oh," Harry said. So, there would be no help from Remus either,' Harry realized.  
  
"Do you need me to help you pack?" Remus asked.  
  
"No, I don't think so," Harry replied. He slipped his school robe over his pajamas and dumped everything from his desk into the trunk and slammed it closed.  
  
"Harry? Are you upset about something?" Remus asked.  
  
Harry took a deep breath before answering. "No, I'm sorry. I just don't want to go back there. Not exactly pleasant memories if you know what I mean."  
  
"I understand, but you won't be alone there."  
  
"You mean Ron and Hermione will be there?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
"Er...no, at least not yet, but there will always be someone there. I'll try to be there as much as I can."  
  
Whatever,' Harry thought. Maybe Sirius had some good Defense or Dueling books. He'd probably have ample time there to practice, and he probably wouldn't have to worry about doing magic. A secret keeper protected that place. The Ministry wouldn't be able to find it to send him a hearing notice. Harry allowed himself a small smile. "All right; let's go." Harry said.  
  
Harry sat by himself in a mostly empty room in the basement of Grimmauld Place surrounded by a small pile of books. Most of the books he had found in Sirius's former room. He's found a locking spell on the door to Sirius's room, but it had been easy to break through. Harry hadn't wanted to spend much time in the room, especially alone, so he'd just grabbed all the books that sounded at all interesting.  
  
He'd ended up with quite a good stash of books. He had all six volumes of Defense though the Ages, three advanced Charms books, two Potions books with mostly basic, but still useful potions, and four books of hexes and fighting curses. Harry wasn't sure why Sirius had such a stash of books. Maybe he had been trying to prepare for facing Voldemort as well. Maybe that's what happens when you leave someone alone when there's a Dark Lord on the loose,' Harry thought, but he was glad for the books and the freedom nonetheless.  
  
Today had been Moody's turn to watch' him. More like baby-sit,' Harry thought. He told Moody politely that he was going downstairs to study his summer homework, but if he had any questions, he'd be sure to come up and ask. Harry was sure that they had plenty of charms on the house so that they would know the instant he left, which was also probably why they often allowed him out of their sight if he told them where he was going.  
  
He spent the entire morning reading one of the books about hexes. He wrote down all the incantations, wand movements and supposed effects of hexes as he went along. The only reason he knew that it was noontime was because a house elf appeared in front of him with a lunch tray.  
  
"Master Tonks sent me to bring you lunch, Master Potter," the elf said.  
  
So, Tonks was here now, and she hadn't bothered him. That was a good sign. He would probably have the rest of the afternoon to practice his hexes in peace. Harry quickly ate his lunch, and the elf disappeared with the tray as soon as he was finished.  
  
The few hexes on his list were easy enough, but it was hard for him to tell if they were effective though when he was just shooting them in the air. Harry thought about this as he looked around the room. There wasn't much there except for a desk, a chair and a full-length mirror.  
  
The mirror,' Harry thought. Maybe if send the hex at the mirror, it will come back at me. At least then I'll know if I did it right.' It would also be nice to know exactly how the hex felt. That way he would be able to predict how his opponent would react.  
  
Harry looked back at his list to see the effects of the first hex. It was a tripping hex. That could be quite useful...if it worked. He walked over to the mirror and stared himself in the eyes. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at himself.  
  
"Offrendere!" Harry spoke clearly. Then he felt his feet being pulled right from under him as he landed on the ground.  
  
"Cool," Harry said out loud. It had worked. Of course that one had been easy. They had learned something similar in the third year. Harry went back to the list. Hex number two was a little more complicated, and he'd never attempted a hex like it before. It was meant to send a projectile towards an opponent.  
  
Harry looked at himself in the mirror again and raised his wand. He opened his mouth, but stopped just short of saying the incantation. He slapped himself mentally. If he threw a projectile at the mirror it would break, and then he would have nothing to practice with. Plus it would probably bring attention to him.  
  
Okay, next,' Harry thought. The next hex was supposed to make the opponent feel like his bone was broken. The pain was felt at whichever bone the spell had been aimed at. Harry knew well enough how much it hurt to break bones, which made him realize how useful that hex could be. He didn't exactly want to feel like his bone was broken, but it was the only way he could think of to test the hex.  
  
"Fangere!" Harry said pointing his wand at his hand in the mirror. He figured the pain from breaking a smaller bone would be less intense than a larger one, but when the spell surrounded his fingers, he realized that he was wrong.  
  
His hand hurt so much that he felt himself falling to the ground. He couldn't concentrate on anything other than the pain. After a few moments the pain started to subside a bit. Harry figured he just had to wait for the hex to wear off. How long did it last anyway?  
  
After a few more moments, the pain had gone down a little more, and Harry tried to get up. But when he put his weight on his hand, the pain redoubled. He fell back to the ground. Harry pulled his hand in front of him and saw that his first two fingers were hanging crooked. They really were broken. The hex wasn't really supposed to break his fingers. Maybe they just looked broken, but really weren't, Harry thought. But after many more long moments and attempts to use his fingers, Harry realized that they really were broken.  
  
Now what was he going to do? He could always go upstairs to Tonks and tell her that he had had an accident. What, that one of your books started attacking you while you were just innocently trying to read it?' Okay, maybe not,' Harry thought. She would just get suspicious that he was doing something other than reading, and she would probably start to watch him more closely.  
  
He couldn't have that. He had already learned so much in his privacy. He had to maintain that privacy. So, he would have to find a way to heal his fingers himself. He knew that there was a medical charm that healed broken bones, but Madam Pomphrey rarely used it. He wasn't sure why, but he suspected that either the charm was either too complicated or it didn't really work that well. Knowing that Madam Pomphrey was quite an accomplished medi-witch he assumed the later. And if the charm didn't work very well, and he was new at it, well that wouldn't be a very good combination.  
  
That only left a potion. Sirius had left two books full of basic but useful potions. Surely one of them was for mending broken bones. Harry got up carefully this time making sure not to put weight on his hand.  
  
He flipped through the potions book and quickly found the correct potion. It looked like a pretty easy potion to brew, even with his dismal potion skills, as Snape liked to remind him. The ingredient list looked pretty basic. There was nothing exotic, and nothing that Harry hadn't heard of. Harry stood up and carried the potions book under his good arm. He remembered from his previous visit that one of the other rooms in this hall was a stockroom, and he hoped that it was still stocked and not one of the rooms that had been cleared out.  
  
Harry was surprised to find that the room had actually been upgraded. There was a workbench with a cauldron and cutting boards and the shelves behind the workbench were filled with ingredients and not just dusty bottles. Harry looked carefully at one of the bottles. Newt eyes,' the neat script read. Next to the newt eyes, were newt tails, and newt toes. Everything was neatly labeled and perfectly organized. This had to be Professor Snape's workroom. Snape must make potions here for the order,' Harry thought. Harry couldn't believe his luck. Of course, he would have to be extra careful to clean up and put everything away when he was done.  
  
Harry easily found all the ingredients that he needed for the potion and placed them on the workbench beside the cauldron. He placed one of the jars on the edge of the book to help hold it open, and he began to follow the directions. He was as careful as he possibly could be when handling the ingredients, because he didn't want to waste any. He hoped that the small amount of ingredients he was using would go unnoticed, and he didn't want to use any more than necessary.  
  
The potion was going well. The color was exactly as the book said it should be. He just had one more ingredient to add after he finished stirring twelve more times. Harry picked up the spoon between the thumb and forefinger of his good hand and held the woodland bark between his next two fingers. He wanted to be ready when the time came.  
  
"POTTER!"  
  
Harry jumped at the unexpected noise dropping both his spoon and the bark into the potion.  
  
"What do you think you're doing in my workroom?" Professor Snape yelled.  
  
Harry ducked away as his potions started to rumble and smoke. He managed to duck under the table just seconds before the whole potion exploded.  
  
"Answer me, Potter. What are you doing?"  
  
Harry pulled tried to pull himself off the ground, but he forgot about his broken fingers and winced in pain. He tried to hide that fact as he used his other hand to help him up.  
  
"Er...sir, I was trying to make a potion."  
  
"Trying humph. Let's just see what you were trying to make," Snape said.  
  
Harry tried to get to the book before Snape did, so that he could close it, but Snape snatched it from under his hands. Not like Snape couldn't have figured out what the potion was anyway, Harry thought.  
  
"A bone-mending potion? Why were you trying to make that of all things? And why did you fail so miserably? This is a simple potion."  
  
Harry didn't bother to argue. Of course it was simple when someone didn't come into the room and startle you. "I was just working on my homework. I got bored with just reading. I didn't think anyone would mind if I just tried it out."  
  
"First, this potion is not part of your summer assignment, second, you do not come into my workroom without my permission, and third, you are not to do anything without informing the person who is watching you. I thought that had been made clear to you."  
  
Harry wasn't sure how to defend himself so he decided just to stay quiet.  
  
"You didn't by any chance hurt yourself doing something stupid, and then come in here to try and heal it before anyone could find out?"  
  
Harry looked down immediately so that Snape couldn't look into his eyes, but then he shook his head.  
  
"Really, then there's nothing wrong with your hand?"  
  
Harry shook his head again. Maybe he could make Snape believe that he wasn't really hurt. But Snape reached out and grabbed Harry's hand from behind his back. Snape held Harry's hand by the wrist in front of their faces. They could both clearly see that two of his fingers were handing at impossible angles. Harry took a chance and looked up.  
  
"Now, tell me how this happened," Snape said "and don't bother lying to me. I will know." Snape looked right into Harry's eyes as he said this, and Harry knew that it was true.  
  
He decided he would just tell the truth. It wasn't like he could get into any more trouble now, and it wasn't like he would be able to hide the books before anyone found them, so maybe if he told the truth he would at least get to keep reading some of the books. He could learn something even if he didn't have a wand, which was one thing he was sure would be taken from him shortly.  
  
"I found some books in Sirius's room. One of them was about hexes. I was trying out some of the hexes that I read about."  
  
"You were trying them out on yourself?"  
  
"Well there wasn't exactly anyone else to help me."  
  
"Did you even ask anyone?"  
  
"I didn't have to. Dumbledore gave me books on Quidditch to read this summer and Remus helped pick them out. I know that if I want to learn this stuff than I have to do it myself."  
  
"My - noble, aren't we? Did you ever think the reason they didn't give you books on hexes was because it's dangerous?"  
  
"Dumbledore never wanted to help me prepare. Remus thinks that I won't be the one to actually duel the Dark Lord. I know the truth, and I don't want to pretend otherwise."  
  
Snape didn't say anything, and he surprisingly let the subject drop. "And exactly what hex were you performing on yourself that led to this result?"  
  
"Er, Fangere. I didn't think it would actually break my bones. I thought it was just supposed to make it feel like they were broken."  
  
"It is not supposed to break the bones. How did you do the hex?"  
  
"Well, I was looking into a mirror and I pointed my wand at my hand, and just said the spell."  
  
"Stupid boy. The mirror doesn't just reflect the hex, it doubles its effects. I guess you're lucky that you started out with something that wouldn't kill you."  
  
Snape dropped Harry's wrist unceremoniously and reached into his robes. He pulled out a small vial and handed it to Harry.  
  
"Sit," Snape ordered pointing to a hard, wooden chair in the corner of the room, "and drink. While you're waiting, I want you to write a parchment on why your potion failed."  
  
Harry accepted the potion and sat and drank. He felt the potion start to take effect almost immediately. He knew it was working because he could feel the pain. The pain was much like the skele-grow only sharper and stronger.  
  
Snape cleaned up the mess from the explosion with one wave of his wand making Harry wonder why he didn't do that more often during class. He always seemed to make such a big deal out of cauldron explosions.  
  
"Get to work, Mr. Potter, and there will be no more practicing hexes on yourself alone, understood?"  
  
"But I have to practice them somehow," Harry insisted hoping that Snape would understand his situation at least a little and not take that away from him.  
  
"It is dangerous and stupid to practice hexes on yourself especially when you don't know what the results will be, and you will not do it."  
  
"Yes sir," Harry replied.  
  
"When you are finished writing your essay, I will show you how to perform that hex properly," Snape said.  
  
"Yes sir." 


	2. Burn

A/n- Keep reviewing! The link to the yahoo group is posted in the profile.

Chapter 2 by ckat44

Burn

Harry worked on his essay for Snape up in his room on his bed. It didn't take him too long to finish and he found himself falling asleep. Like almost every other time, he had a terrible dream of Sirius falling through the veil. In response to the vivid nightmare, he was thrashing about in his bed, lashing his arms and legs uncontrollably. "No! Sirius!" Harry screamed into the empty room.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Tonks, Remus and Snape were sitting around the table tending to different things. Tonks was writing in a notebook and Severus was reading a newspaper.

"We haven't heard from Harry in a while," Remus said looking up from his novel.

"Potter is doing an essay for me," Snape sneered without looking away from the Daily Prophet placed in front of him.

"What for? Why would he be doing an essay for you Severus?" Lupin asked.

"That is none of your damned business," Snape said coolly, walking out of the room with his newspaper in hand. Ignoring the usual childish quarreling between the two, Nymphadora didn't even notice that the potions master had left.

Severus thought he might as well check on Potter to make sure the blasted boy was doing the essay. He probably thought he was above doing essays that were asked of him….bloody Gryffindor.

Severus walked to Potter's room and without knocking opened the door. "Potter, are you finished yet?" Snape asked coldly, boldly entering the room. He stopped short when he saw the Boy Who Lived moving wildly in sleep in his bed. He was obviously have a nightmare.

"Sirius!" The screams of Harry Potter went through the room. Snape would not stand for it.

"Enervate," he said and watched as Potter shot straight up in the bed, narrowly missing hitting his head on the bed post.

Harry felt disoriented at first. He felt around for his glasses but couldn't find them. He realized that they must have fallen somewhere under the bed.

Snape noticed the glasses on the floor and handed them to the boy in a curt manner.

Harry's tired nightmare riddled brain finally realized that it was Snape in the room. Looking at the hateful expression on the man's face, he could tell that he had been screaming in his sleep. He felt his face and wiped dry tears off of it fiercely.

"Potter, falling asleep on the job I see. Have you finished you essay?"

Harry looked at the foot of his bed to see his essay crinkled and almost ripped. Standing up, he grabbed it and smoothed it out. He handed it to the professor and waited for some sort of approving or disapproving comment. Neither came.

"I see that you have learned your lesson about hexing yourself…. I want you to try the hex on a dummy," Snape said neutrally, as a wooden mannequin was transfigured from the nearest desk.

Was Snape really helping Harry and not spilling insult after insult at him? This was definitely a first.

Harry perfected the hex on the dummy after Snape left quickly. It was his turn to keep watch on Harry, as Tonk's shift was over, but Harry didn't know that.

Harry wanted to practice more hexes...but the mannequin was badly beaten, torn into pieces. Harry could transfigure lots of things but he didn't know how to transfigure something like that. He had no choice. He would have to practice on himself again but this time Snape nor could anyone else find out about it. He remembered finding rooms in the house that he was almost positive most people did not know about. They may have known about them but for whatever reasons they never went in the rooms. Harry didn't know why and didn't really care. He grabbed his wand and a couple of books on hexes and took off to find the deserted back rooms.

Five minutes later, Harry was sprawled out on the floor, a couple of books spread around him. He had picked this room because there had been a full length mirror in the corner. After moving it, It was now in the middle of the room across from where he was sitting. Harry skimmed through the pages of a book looking for a less painful hex when a certain one caught his eye.

The Haceret Hex

_The Haceret Hex makes the cursed feel like burning metal is being pressed upon the skin in the selected area of the body. Depending on how long you keep your wand pointed at the victim affects how strong the curse lasts. This will numb the victim for a long time. The burn will stay for hours. This has been known to make people go crazy from being subjected to the curse for too long. It is not well known but is not illegal.__  
__To make this hex work you must point the wand where you want it to happen and say_ 'Hacera Teray'

Why was this hex so dark? Were they all like this? Harry skimmed a couple more pages and realized yes, they were dark hexes. He felt compelled to try this hex. It could help him in the war right? Harry nodded to himself and stood opposite of the mirror. He reminded himself that he could not hold it for too long or there would be serious consequences. Also, Snape had said that the mirror makes it worse so this would make it even worse.

"Hacera Teray!" Harry shouted at the mirror at his right leg and immediately pulled his wand away. His ankle took the very painful brunt of it, it hurt so bad! His leg felt like it was being sliced off slowly with hot knives. He screamed in pain and collapsed. It was not supposed to hurt this much! He lay on the wood paneled floor not moving or thinking for several antagonizing minutes of pain. He was slowly able to sit up as he tried to keep his mind off of the sharp hurt. Harry looked at his leg.

"Damn," he whispered in disgust and frustration. His ankle looked terrible. The skin was singed off. Black and peeling...with blood all over. He hadn't even noticed how bad it was when he did it. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did he do it even after Snape explained to him what could happen! Harry would not be using the mirror again no matter what. He tried to stand up but failed miserably. Maybe he could heal it himself with his wand… No, that wasn't a good idea.

Two hours later Snape walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. Remus and Tonks were sitting at the table, eating and reading.

"Severus, how is Harry? It is almost time for Remus to keep watch of him but it is getting late. What is he doing?"

Doing? What was Potter doing? Why would Snape care? Oh Merlin...he was supposed to be keeping an eye on the boy. Snape cursed and swept out of the room without his coffee or anything else for that matter. Ten minutes later he still hadn't found him.  
"I don't know where he is," he said simply to the other two occupants of the kitchen.

Tonks jumped out of her seat. "What?" she bellowed giving Severus a deathly glare; Remus looked almost as sharp.

"Severus! You were supposed to be watching him! Where is he? Could he have run away?"

"He isn't that stupid," Tonks told the two.

"Then what?" Snape asked incredulously.

"We have to search the house," Tonks stated. There were only three of them in the manor, not including Harry, so it would probably take a long time. They best get started…

About a half an hour later Severus had checked most of the more secluded rooms. He came to a room with a chipped full length mirror and books all around. In the middle of it all was Potter, lying down with his right foot sticking out. Harry could do nothing but wait for someone to come in due to his current state so that was what he had been doing. He had been lying there ignoring the excruciating pain coming from his ankle.

"Potter, what the hell happened to your leg?" Snape asked in disgust.

"Professor, I can't move…." Harry said not looking up at the man.

"That is obvious. How did you burn your leg?"

"I didn't mean to! Well, I did...but not for it to get this bad..."

"Potter, I told you not to hex at the mirror!" he yelled.

"I know, I just… I wanted to practice."

Snape growled. "We will...discuss this later," he said as he bent down. "Should I even heal this? Maybe I should leave it like this so you will finally learn better."

"Please professor…," Harry pleaded.

Snape looked down at the book opened next to the boy and noticed what textbook it was.

"Potter, why the sudden obsession with dark arts?" he asked snidely.

"I am not obsessed with dark magic…," Harry said through gritted teeth.

"Oh really? Then why are you looking through Dark Magic books and picking the very worst hexes to use on YOURSELF stupid boy?"

"These will HELP me professor," Harry growled.

"Daft-"

"Professor, if no one is going to assist me then I have to prepare for the upcoming war myself. I am not an ignorant child! Everyone treats me like I am but I am the savior of the wizarding world for Merlin's sake!"

"Looking for more fame than you already have Potter?"

"NO!"


	3. Snape's Hard Decision

Chapter Three

By: Catti

"Well, well, well! You have proven yourself again, Potter! I will  
leave you alone to think about what you have done. Perhaps some  
suffering will teach you more than a simple essay."  
  
With these words Snape left Harry looking stupefied at the door,  
which closed with a crash. He started to think about what he was  
going to do about his current situation. He looked at his pale,  
bloody ankle and sighed, this could be a long wait. He found a better  
position and again felt massive shots of pain through his now  
throbbing ankle. This was going to be a long wait indeed.  
  
Snape was boiling, that bloody brat had gone against his orders once  
again. And this time his situation was a little more serious than it  
had been the last time. Even he couldn't help that brat so easily  
anymore. If he wanted to do anything he was have to do some research.  
And if someone found out about the situation, he would be persecuted  
for not telling. Damn brat. What would he say to Remus now, it was  
his duty to look after Harry now, he supposed. What if Remus was to  
see what state Harry was in? Then everyone will ask what I know about  
it. And I didn't tell them anything about Harry's earlier behavior,  
and that was mistake I see now.. Now I could be in trouble if they  
find out about Harry's foolishness. Damn that boy to hell. And when he  
realized this, he stopped, turned around, and went back to Harry. He  
didn't know exactly how he was going to keep everyone in the dark,  
but he was have to do it anyway for his own sake.  
  
Snape was striding angrily when he almost crashed into the werewolf  
who was startled when he saw the angry look on Snape's face. When he  
recovered from his shock he said quietly to Snape:  
  
"You found him then!"  
  
Snape started to glare at werewolf in irritation and stated back to  
him.  
  
"Yeah, you can leave him suffering for messing with me, now get out  
of my way so I can deal with him."  
  
Remus glanced at Snape warily when he said that. Then he expectantly  
looked at Snape, because he wanted to know more about what was going  
on with Snape and Harry; Snape had been acting oddly whenever Harry  
was mentioned, so he asked outright.  
  
"Are you going to tell me what is going on? Where is he anyway? I  
want see him, if you could be so kind and tell me where he is."  
  
Snape looked at him with his most intense warning glare and said  
coldly.  
  
"No! And don't bother to search for him now. He is helping me at my  
laboratory," Then Snape shifted closer to the Werewolf's face and  
said "and if you dare disturb my punishment for his attitude, I can't  
guarantee what I'll do. The Boy should learn what he is doing since  
he is our only hope in this war. You should know, after all he has  
already killed damn godfather of his."  
  
Remus could only gape while Snape had his outburst, and then Snape  
gave his last death glare, before exiting. For a long time, Remus  
stood rooted in his spot and wonder what the hell happened with  
Harry to put Snape in such a bad mood. Though he thought almost  
anything Harry did could do it for sure. He wondered if he should go  
and check on Harry, but when he remembered how angry Snape had been,  
he thought it wouldn't do any good for now.  
  
Snape was grateful when he got rid of the werewolf finally. He  
thought triumphantly that now they would get some peace from him for  
while. So he started to walk to the mirror room again, now a little  
calmer than before. His outburst had apparently cleared his thoughts  
a little bit. He was actually able to think clearly for the first time  
again after seeing Potter. This teaser was beginning to be real  
problem so far. Sighing he walked up to the door of the mirror room  
and opened it reluctantly but he knew that he would surely have to do  
it.  
  
Harry had dosed off while he was waiting and was startled when he  
heard Snape loudly calling his name next to him.  
  
"Potter, we are going now, I will stand you up and you will grab of  
my hand, do you got it?!"  
  
One glance from Harry told him that there was no refusing. Snape's  
eyes were dangerously narrow and dark so he answered quietly. But  
still he was glancing angrily at Snape during it.  
  
"Yes sir!"  
  
Snape grabbed his hand fairly hard and he yelped from the pain, but  
apparently Snape didn't notice it because he only pulled him up and  
that was painful experience too. What a git. Apparently now when they  
were up, Snape had seen how much pain he was in, because he took his  
wand into his hand and whispered something that Harry couldn't hear.  
Only when he started to feel his ankle numbing did he know that Snape  
was done, the next spell put his leg into a big bandage and then  
Snape said:  
  
"Now you can walk well enough to get to my laboratory, and there we  
can do some work for your leg. I would love to keep it like that, but  
what would all the others say in a case like that. Come after me  
quickly. We don't want anybody seeing us!"  
  
His leg was much better indeed, though he knew it wasn't permanent.  
It was still hard to keep up with Snape because he was walking so  
quickly, and his leg was a bit clumsy if you compared it with healthy  
leg. But he knew there was no sense in complaining about Snape's  
walking speed. He was in too bad a mood already without his  
complaining too. Luckily nobody had seen. He wondered what hell Snape  
was doing now for their situation. He saw how Snape was pretty far in  
front of him, but he couldn't do anything about it. Though he really  
tried to walk quicker, but his leg was too clumsy. The git didn't  
realize that one. Now he saw that Snape was looking at him furiously  
and said:

"I said quickly, why the hell are you are delaying!"  
  
Harry said back bravely:  
  
"This damn leg is so clumsy that I can't keep up with you. Why don't -  
Now Snape had stopped finally and looked dangerously at Harry and said  
in so quiet a voice that Harry could hardly hear:  
  
"If you want me to train you, you have to do what I say. And no more  
training yourself, or you will hope you weren't even born! I don't  
want to do any more useless healing" Now Snape was turned around and  
started striding forward again. But after couple of steps he turned around  
again and said, "And no more accidents like last year!"  
  
Harry was listening while Snape said all this and he knew at once  
that this was his only chance, he could do the other thing because of  
that damn Trelawney. Snape could really help him on his way to  
victory. He must be a very good expert with dark curses since he was  
deatheater in Voldemort's group. He was glancing at Snape hopefully  
and thought that this was his only choice to get help with his fight  
and this time he couldn't mess up. Last time he didn't even try to  
practise and what was the result, Sirius was dead because him. He  
felt pain hit him hard when he thought about it.  
  
And actually Snape was always trying to help him, well almost always.  
And now could have told to others about his training and spoiled it.  
And nobody wanted him to practice now. If Dumbledore knew he would  
stop it, he proved it when he sent those useless books about Quidditch and  
Wizard chess. So it was pretty sure what he thought. But Snape, he actually  
said he can teach me to fight. Without any obligations he said he can teach  
me, though he really hates me, Harry thought while his heart was beating like  
crazy.  
  
Then he glanced at his wounded leg accidentally and realised that they  
should go for now. Anybody could see his leg, which was in a bandage  
and then everything would be spoiled. If anybody else saw his leg  
everything would be over. It was only magic that kept it in walking  
shape. And how long was the magic going to hold. They were going to  
have to hurry so he quickly said:  
  
"Yes sir, I'll walk faster."  
  
Harry watched as Snape turned around and kept walking toward the  
laboratory at exactly same speed as before. So Harry sighed and  
started to walk again though his leg was starting to hurt again. He  
really tried to walk as quickly as Snape was but it was a little  
harder each time. Apparently Snape's magic was started to wear off,  
but Harry didn't complain. Luckily he saw the door of Laboratory  
already, then it didn't seem like such a big deal anymore. So he kept  
him walking forward by leaning on the wall for now. He ground his  
teeth together and it helped him bear the pain of his leg while  
walking. The door was getting nearer, but the pain in his leg was  
getting worse as well.  
  
It was only six of feet but now he couldn't move any farther. His leg  
was now as bad as it had been before Snape had done anything to it,  
worse actually because he had walked on it. Harry glanced at the door  
that was near but still too far away for his leg. He glanced at Snape  
and realized that he should ask for help, and from Snape not less. It  
shouldn't been such a big deal but everyone thought that it was so  
absurd. If Ron knew what he was doing he would be horrified about  
everything and Hermione would encourage him to do it. He knew Snape  
was waiting impatiently for him in the laboratory and that he would  
have make his move. So he simply said:  
  
"Sir, I think your spell has faded, I don't think I can walk any  
longer with my leg."  
  
He could hear Snape slam something on something else and then Snape  
started to talk.  
  
"Damn, you should have walked a little quicker and it wouldn't have  
faded away so fast. I can't use that same spell on it any longer if I  
want to cure your leg sometime soon. "  
  
And now Harry saw how Snape thought something too happy for his good.  
On Snape's face appeared an evil grin and he swallowed when he  
thought about what it could mean. And he wasn't disappointed, he  
watched in terror as Snape lifted his wand and said with evil grin:  
  
"You won't like this! Locomotor corpse!"( I hope this locomoter  
corpse is right spell!)  
  
Harry felt his body being lifted off of the floor and he couldn't do  
anything to control it. He gulped and looked underneath him and then  
swallowed again. He knew Snape had used that same spell on him during  
his third year but at the time he had been unconscious. This  
certainly didn't feel good, he couldn't control any part of his body  
and it felt like it was moving forward on its own. He closed his  
eyes and hoped that it would end soon. This was much worse than  
flooing too. Soon, though not soon enough, he felt himself sinking  
downward until he was sitting on the floor again. He opened his eyes  
again but didn't dare lift his head to look upward. He could only  
imagine how Snape was looking at him amused. Then he heard Snape say  
in highly amused voice:  
  
"Enjoying yourself, Potter!"


	4. Azrael

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other known characters and places in the Harry Potter world belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Bros, and Bloomsbury. The story and original characters belong to me.

Written by: Starangel2106 and Padawan Jan-AQ

Chapter Four

"Oh yes, I'm enjoying this so much!" Harry sulked.  
  
"You would do well to show some respect Potter." Snape said maliciously "I could easily lift you back up and 'drop' you. Now let's get started."  
  
"With what _sir_?" Started?   
  
"Lessons of course."

"Lessons? Now? But isn't a little late?"

"Isn't it a little late, _Sir_," Snape corrected him. "Do I look like I care or that I'm tired?"  
  
"No sir." Harry dearly wished he did.  
  
"Well then moving on."  
  
"What about my leg sir?"  
  
"Oh yes, your leg. I've decided that you should suffer until the end of your lesson to learn a lesson about teaching about foolish tendencies and disobeying. I have decided to heal you after your lesson today. There isn't always an easy way out and you should learn to deal with your mistakes. "  
  
"Wha...?"  
  
"Potter! Quiet!"

"Yes sir!"  
  
"Good. We will be begin with potions. Take out your note-taking supplies... we will start with the Navitas potion. The Navitas potion is a subtle one requiring a great deal of patience. When created correctly, it is able to render one's allies more energetic and increase the available magic readily accessible..." And so Snape lectured on and on. By midnight Harry really didn't care any more about the Carmen potion or how adding more batwings could make an ater potion more potent. All he wanted was a nice warm bed.  
  
"Potter are you paying attention?" Snape's harsh voice cut through his longings.  
  
"Huh? Yea sir continue."  
  
"Hm," Snape looked at him closely before continuing, "I suppose that was enough for tonight. I will apply this relaxo cream on your leg now and then after we get you to your room you can have the cruris condico potion. Your leg will be fixed by morning, before anyone knows."  
  
By the next morning Harry's leg was mostly healed with the exception of some stiffness and pain when he tried to walk on it. He wondered why and then decided that if it still hurt after he loosened it up by walking on it, he'd ask Snape later. He went about his normal morning routine and went down for breakfast.

Harry was met with simultaneous greeting from Lupin and Dumbledore when he walked into the kitchen. "Good morning Harry."  
  
"Morning" Harry replied, it was far from good in his opinion. Anyway he had just woken up, and how was anyone supposed to know if it was a good morning or not when they just got out of bed?  
  
They ate breakfast, which consisted of waffles, sausage, orange juice or milk, and fruit while the others trickled in slowly. After Harry finished eating he headed to his room, as he needed to look over a lesson courtesy of his favorite potion master. After half an hour he was done and went to find said teacher to hand it over. He was wandering through the halls searching for Snape when he heard a suspicious noise coming from an unused room. He was wandering through the halls searching for Snape when he heard a suspicious noise coming from an unused room. He felt tempted to go and investigate the noise but knew that he needed to find Snape to hand his work in more than he needed to get embroiled in another adventure. After all, everything seemed to happen to him and it would be better to hand in his assignment for Snape first before he was pulled into another unusual event lest Snape claim that he did so just to get out of doing work_. A few minutes later, Harry found Snape in the room they used the day before. _The potions lab. It looked a lot nicer in the daylight. Off to one side, a door was ajar that Harry hadn't noticed the night before. He was mildly curious as to what was in there but dismissed it in favour of completing his errand.

Snape looked up at him with piercing eyes. "Potter what are you doing?"

"Huh? Coming to hand my paper over, sir."

"And who gave you permission to come here?"

"Hm no one. No one stopped me though."

"As I can very well tell. Now, I believe that Tonks is supposed to be watching you. She obviously failed in her duties thus far. Get back to your room and look over hexes you want to try out."

"Yes sir."

Dismissed and with his errand of giving his assignment to Snape completed, Harry wandered back towards his room. He didn't really want to spend more time just sitting there looking at books right now. He remembered the sound he had heard earlier and decided that now would be a good time to check it out. There wasn't much else to do and he could always look through the books of hexes later.

So Harry back-tracked to the door he heard the sound from. He was very curious as to what it could have been. As he approached the door, he didn't hear anything at all and certainly not the noise that had drawn his curiosity initially. He hadn't explored the house much and decided that this would be a good time to start again. It wouldn't hurt to check this room out. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was quite boring, filled with random bits of furniture. He walked in further until he was in the middle of the room.

Suddenly, a whoosh sound was heard and a translucent blur flew past his vision. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, he thought. He had just moved to make a retreat out of the room when a low female voice spoke up from the mass of fog that floated between him and the door.

"What is it you want young one?" There was a lilt of danger in the voice but Harry ignored it.

"I just heard a noise earlier and wanted to see what it was." Okay, I've found out what it was now it's time to go.

The blur (Harry was quite sure that it was a ghost for whatever reason, choosing or forced to be seen as incorporeal) circled around him, preventing any attempt to walk away.

"Erm, I've got to go now. It was nice meeting you," Harry tried to walk towards the exit but in a flash, the ghost moved in front of him, barring the way.

"Why so soon? Don't you want to be near me light one?"

"Actually no I don't." It wasn't worth it to lie, right?

"That hurts young one." The formless ghost started circling him again, this time faster and in another direction." The ghost started circling him again, this time faster and in another direction.

Okay well then, who are you?" Small talk then I can leave.

"I am Azrael. You, light one, are Harry Potter. So tell me, why are you wondering around?"

"Azrael what? How do you know who I am? And I am allowed to do what I what." Harry crossed his arms petulantly."

The ghost stopped circling and wavered back and forth like a pendulum right in the middle of the path to the door." My name does not matter to you. I know everyone and anyone in this house. And you are not to do what you want! I personally want to know where your sitter is." The white blur moved towards him, stopping a foot away. Harry thought that he could see eyes in that swirling mass of fog looking at him but he wasn't sure.

"I don't know, it's probably Tonks, but whoever it is hasn't found me so it doesn't matter." Harry said, wanting to get out of the room already. The ghost was creeping him out.

"Oh my dear light child it does. You should not be alone."

Stupid ghost. He was quite fine by himself. "Can I leave yet?"

"No. Not until someone comes gets you."

"What? Are you out of your mind? No one will even know to look for me..." Harry stopped mid-rant as the door was suddenly opened.

"Potter! What are you doing?" Snape. Of course he would be the one to find him. Figures. Someone must be orchestrating this and having a great laugh.

"I came in to the wrong room and found this ghost."

Snape gave him a sideways glance. "Potter, I know that you didn't just walk into this room unintentionally although it is obvious you did indeed find 'this ghost'." Snape turned his attention to the swirling blob. "Hello Azrael." Harry was surprised that Snape seemed to know this ghost. He wondered how and why.

"Hello dark child. What are you doing?" Azrael said. Harry guessed she had a fascination with nicknames.

"Looking for this brat, I hope he hasn't caused you any trouble."

"Not at all darkling, he wasn't a brat although he was a little wary about staying here." Who wouldn't feel distrustful at a strange apparition that wouldn't let you leave when you wanted to? Harry thought. And with his track record... well he had a reason to be wary of anything obstructing his exits.

"Understandable I suppose. Although he is a Gryffindor, I don't know where his courage went." Snape commented dryly.

"Hey!" Harry spoke up in defense. "And I suppose that the first time you found this ghost you just had a nice friendly chat before going on your way?"

"Be quiet Potter. That is none of you business."

"Ok Darkling and Light One that's enough." The ghostly apparition said before Harry could retort. "Darkling did you need something besides finding the young one?"

"No. And now that I've found him it's time to go. Good day and thank you, Azrael. Potter, it's nearly my shift to watch you anyway. Come along."

and Relaxorelaxo, cruris-leg ,condico-fix, Carmen-singing, Navitas-energy,


	5. The Pensive

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other known characters and places in the Harry Potter world belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Bros, and Bloomsbury. The story and original characters belong to me and the panicparables yahoogroup.

Written by: Stephalopolis

Chapter 5- The Pensieve

As soon as Harry and Snape left the room, the professor slammed the door shut and turned snarling to Harry.

"Just what the hell were you thinking Potter?"

"I-I heard a noise. I just wanted to check it out."

"Ah yes, the ever gallant Gryffindor. Hears a noise and instantly runs off to help the poor distressed individual, in case they might be so injured as to have a stubbed toe."

"I was just checking it out. The house is supposed to be safe; I didn't think anything too bad would happen."

"Ah yes, the house was safe. And tell me Mr. Potter, how safe do you believe Hogwarts to be? After all these years, Voldemort, Basilisk, murdering mutt, disguised Death Eater...places that normally are safe are rendered perilous with your foolish Gryffindor curiosity!"

"What else was I supposed to do? I'm locked in this house all day like a prisoner! I can't go to the other side of a room without a group of people getting worried that I may get hurt! I'm bored professor. There's only so much reading a teenage boy can do. I'm sorry that the noise sparked my curiosity, but in an environment like this, I can't promise it won't happen again."

"What else are you supposed to do?!? Well you could listen to me and do as I say. I believe I remember telling you to go to your room and study hexes. But oh no, Perfect Potter doesn't need to study to become great. He has the Wonder-Scar that magically inserts knowledge into his head. Working hard is a job for common people- not for him. He just-"

Harry had had enough. At this point, Snape was moving around, gesturing wildly as he made his points. Not caring that he was interrupting Snape mid-rant, Harry snapped.

"-Or maybe it's the fact that I've been so bored that I've read all of the books in there! I am tired of looking through the same things! I'm a teenage boy! I need stimulation!"

The hallway instantly became silent. The atmosphere was so tense it could be cut with a dull spoon. Snape slowly turned towards Harry, who took a step back at the look on his face.

"Stimulation Mr. Potter? You would do well to learn some people would welcome the quiet, spoiled life that you lead." With that said, Snape took off down the hall. Harry just stood there staring after him.

"Well? Why aren't you following me?" Harry quickly caught up with him and followed behind him.

Harry and Snape traveled for about 5 minutes. Harry had never been down this part of the house before. It was creepy looking, with cobwebs hanging everywhere and old portraits leering down at him. A layer of dust covered everything, only being broken with an old set of house-elf tracks, undoubtedly made by Kreacher trying to sneak items out before this area of the house was cleaned. When they finally stopped in front of a nearly hidden door, Harry almost ran into Snape, stopping just in time before colliding with the towering man.

"Potter, since you are such a naïve little Gryffindor and can't seem to do one simple task without being distracted by inane little noises, drastic measures must be taken. You will stay in this room and study. I want you to find 10 hexes and write a 14 inch essay about each of them incorporating history, application, and hypothetical uses in a duel. You will not leave this room until they are finished. Meals will be sent up to you three times a day. When you are finished, leave your reports on the meal tray. That, hopefully, should quench your foolishly perpetual Gryffindor curiosity." With that, Snape opened the door and pushed Harry into the room, slamming the door shut after him.

Harry looked around the room he had been shoved into. It was small, made even smaller with rows of bookshelves surrounding the walls. There was a desk against one wall underneath a window placed too high for outside viewing. The room looked as though someone had once tried to make it into a study, but with the room being so undersized, the effort had been abandoned. Turning around in a circle, Harry noticed a small couch at one end, next to a second door. Upon inspection of this new room, it showed to be a bathroom big enough only for him to do his business and wash his hands. The rooms were bare, no decorations hung, not even a mirror. About the only thing worthwhile it held were books, parchment, and writing utensils.

Sighing, Harry turned back to the first door, ignoring the small thread of panic starting to rise up in the back of his mind. When he discovered that the door was locked though and Snape really meant to follow through in his threat, that small thread exploded full-force.

'_He wouldn't really follow through on his threat. I mean, we're in a house with others, I'm sure they'll notice I'm missing at some point. But then again, this is Snape we're talking about. He could tell them any sort of story and they'd believe it. At least he's pureblood... he wouldn't result to such muggle techniques as cat-flaps. Or would he? I mean... he's a Slytherin. I can't really put it past him."_

Harry quickly tuned out his wandering thoughts once they reached the point of having him climb on the desk and jumping out the window. To help him, he turned to the books around him.

"Well, might as well get started."

As hard as he tried, Harry had only finished one essay by the time lunch rolled around. He was startled when a plate of food suddenly appeared on the desk. _'Looks like no human contact that way' _Although he knew that Snape wasn't like his relatives, Harry still saved some of his food and hid it in a desk drawer. _'Just in case.'_

Harry tried to go back to writing his essay, but after only getting two more words written down, he slammed the book shut and stood up, running his hand through his hair. Try as he might, he just couldn't get the terror of being locked in a small room out of his mind. Hoping that another book might help him, he wandered over to one of the book shelves and started examining it. Grabbing a light pink book, he made his way over to the couch.

'_Hmmm... Magical Memories... This might prove interesting'_

Harry opened the book to a random page. Unfortunately, that page happened to be on one of his least favorite topics...Occlumency.

'_Great. I try and get my mind off of Snape, and what do I get? Occlumency.'_ As much as Harry disliked the subject, however, he decided to read the section anyway. Professor Dumbledore was sure to make Harry resume his training, and the way that Snape was teaching him sure wasn't making a difference. He settled down into the couch, preparing for a long and boring read.

Harry looked up from the book, finished with the section. It had actually turned out to be an interesting read. While Snape's way of teaching was legitimate, it was the harder and more rare way to learn. Most commonly used method was called image placement. All Harry had to do was think of something broad, such as the sky, water, or even a color such as green, then focus on that one thing, in his mind forcing that image to be a solid block, forcing everything else out but that one thing. It was much easier than thinking of nothing. If only Snape had given him a chance and taught him... and if he had tried harder... last year wouldn't have happened.

In order to stop his wandering thoughts from going in that direction, Harry quickly flipped the pages until another one caught his eye. It was a section all about pensieves. Despite his bad luck with them, Harry had always wanted his own pensieve. He had too thoughts in his head- too many bad memories. He would love to be able to get them out. He quickly started reading the section, hoping it would mention something that would help him.

**Pensieves**

_A pensieve is a small bowl, filled with a liquid that is often described as melted silver. Very rare, wizards and witches can fill these bowls with memories of their past. One common misconception of the device is that the pensieve completely erases knowledge of the memory from the mind. This, however, is not so. It merely softens the memory. It no longer will be focused on over and over in the mind, however if the user needs to recall it for something important, they can easily remember the instance._

_Pensieves are quite easy to use. All one has to do is think about a memory, place a wand tip slightly inside their ear, and "pull" the memory out. Although the method is more effective if the memory is more recent, all memories will work. However, to get recollections from childhood, it is best to think about the timeframe that the instant happened in, preferably a date, although any time frame (such as holidays) will work._

_Perhaps because of their wonderful nature, pensieves are hard to obtain. Most can only be obtained by the richest of families, or people that have inherited them in some way. The material to make pensieves is hard to find, and even families that have the money to get one sometimes can't due to a lack of supplier. Most pensieves get around through sharing and family inheritances. Pensieves can be used by multiple users- there is no limit to how many memories a pensieve can hold. In fact, often times, pensieves are used to store family histories. However, in cases where new pensieve owners would like to store only their own memoirs, there is a simple spell that can be used, _restaurare, _to eliminate all old memories. (Diagram of wand movement shown on page 625)_

Harry looked up from reading. Looked like his chances of getting a pensieve for his birthday were slim to none. Tired of reading, Harry tried to put the book back on the shelf. However, the book got caught on something upon entry. Looking carefully, Harry noticed a hidden latch. Ignoring Snape's comments about Gryffindor curiosity, Harry pulled on the latch.

The latch pulled out to reveal a hidden drawer. Sitting inside the drawer, taking up all the room, was a pensieve. Harry pulled it out and carried it over to the desk. It was smaller than Professor Dumbledore's, but it still contained a lot of memories. It was very outlandishly decorated, obviously once belonging to a rich family who had the money to spend on such frivolous designs such as gems and ruins.

Harry considered his options. On one hand, this pensieve may have once been used by Sirius, and may contain memories that were private and not meant to be viewed by him. On the other hand, Harry knew that a pensieve would really come in handy to him. Especially when Occlumency lessons started up again. His mind made up, Harry sat down in front of it and pulled out his wand.

First thing he considered was which memories he wanted to put in. The first thing that popped into his mind was to put all his experiences with Voldemort in there. However, he quickly discarded that idea. No matter what the book said, he would still prefer not to take the chance of forgetting those times. Although they weren't pleasant, they gave him experience in fighting, and he wanted to remember so he wouldn't make the same mistakes.

Harry sat and contemplated on what he wouldn't want Snape to see. Instantly, one word popped into his mind- Dursleys. Decided, Harry started thinking of every bad incident that occurred in his childhood- locked in the cupboard, doing chores, ignored on holidays, being neglected, insulted, the random swats he would get for "acting up"- memory after memory went into the pensieve.

Finally, after much time, Harry sat back feeling exhausted, but also a little less burdened than before. Harry got back up and closed the drawer, leaving the pensieve on the desk. He was planning on taking it back to his room with him once he got out of the room- which wouldn't happen unless he resumed his homework. With a new burst of energy, Harry sat back down at the desk and continued writing his essays.


	6. Through the Mirror

CHAPTER 6: Through the Mirror

By Lily Tween and Lia Tween

It took Harry the rest of the day and most of the night to finish his essays and when he finished number 14, he couldn't be happier. A person can't exactly spend forever locked away in a small room with a lot of books. Well, maybe Hermione, but she's a little different.

Harry walked over to the little meal tray and placed his work on it, and waited for someone to come and find it. He then walked over to the door and opened the door. He stuck his head out of the door way and looked up and down the hall, checking to see if anyone was there.

Once he was sure that the coast was clear, he walked back over to where he had placed the pensive. He picked it up and walked out the door at a fairly fast pace. He was heading towards his room when he heard voices coming towards him, and one of them sounded like Snape.

"Where'd you say Harry was?" Lupin asked Snape.

"I told him to stay in his room with an assignment; I thought he needed something to do."

Harry started to fume with anger, and then realized that he was still holding the Pensive, and if he was caught with it, who knows what would happen. Panic flooded unwelcomingly into Harry's veins and he started to look for an escape route. There was a door a few feet ahead of him. He went through it and closed the door behind him quickly; he didn't even notice that this was the same room with the mirror that had caused him much trouble.

Harry placed his ear against the door, listening intently, waiting for Lupin and Snape to pass by. A few seconds later he heard them coming closer, and closer, and closer and closer. As they came closer, Harry began to back up rather quickly and soon regretted it when he tripped over some object that was in the middle of the floor, lying there innocently enough.

He fell backwards; the Pensive went flying from his hands, its contents spilling everywhere, mostly on a mirror that just happened to be in the room. As Harry continued his dissent, his body began to turn towards the mirror, and he noticed that the pensive was giving the mirror an almost fluid look, like a puddle.

Harry continued to fall, but instead of falling towards the ground, Harry was falling towards the mirror and there was nothing he could do about it. It was in these few moments that Harry began to hate the ideas of gravity and momentum, and cursed anyone who thought of them.

Harry came closer to the mirror, and it was then that he pondered what would happen when he would hit the mirror. Would it simply shatter into a million pieces and leave Harry with a very sore head? Would it not shatter at all and leave Harry in a never-ending puddle?

What would be in the puddle? Would it be full of memories that were not Harry's? Memories that were Harry's, but would infiltrate his mind once again? What would happen?

Harry then found out. He plunged into the mirror and at first he went through the puddle like surface and he thought that it _was_ an endless puddle. Then, all at once, it shattered. Once Harry's face had plunged into the Pensive puddle, it had shattered, breaking his glasses, entering his eyes, and going past them and into his very brain.

The force of the glass shattering forced Harry backwards and he began to fall in the opposite direction of the mirror, the rest of the Pensive glass falling down at him. Once Harry hit the ground the glass hit his face, and bits of it entered his mouth and eyes before he was able to cover up his face. The pieces went past his eyes, past the back of his mouth, and traveled to his brain.

He lay still for a few moments, and then there was a commotion outside the door, Snape and Lupin coming in to see what the commotion was all about. The door burst open and just as it did so Harry's brain felt like it was twisting inside his skull.

Harry cried out in pain and anguish, the pain was not just wracking through his brain, but his entire body and his soul. Flashes of memories that were not his own began to assault his brain. There were a million images a second, as they became more intense, Harry's scream became louder, the pain began to increase, Lupin and Snape moved quicker over to Harry's side. Suddenly, Harry stopped screaming. The images were still appearing in his head, but his body could not handle it and had fallen into a state of unconsciousness.

Lupin and Snape cautiously made their way over to Harry's side. Lupin kneeled down and touched Harry's neck, searching for a pulse. He found one, although it was extremely faint. Snape glanced around at the things around Harry, saw the bowl, and the broken pieces of mirror.

"Stupid boy." He muttered icily under his breath.

"What do you mean?" Lupin asked as he looked up at Snape's comment.

"He spilt a Pensive on the mirror and then fell on the mirror."

"Where did he get the Pensive from? I know that Sirius didn't have one." At that statement Snape's face fell to the ground.

"It was _mine_." He said extremely quietly.

"And how did Harry acquire it?" Lupin asked, not really believing his ears.

"I left it in one of the rooms; Potter obviously found and decided to meddle around with it."

"So he's been assaulted with glass." Lupin said mildly, knowing this was easily treated.

"If it had just been the mirror, yes that's what would have happened. But pensive glass is different. If it makes contact with the person it will go straight to their memories. So, in shattering it, Potter's brain has been bombarded with glass memory fragments. So he is in extreme physical and metal pain. My memories have now bonded with his, and he won't be able to tell them apart."

"So basically, even after we rid his mind of glass pieces, he's going to be in pain because everything that's happened to you will have happened to him."

"Exactly. And Merlin knows how we're going to get him to sort them out."

Harry moaned in pain on the ground and Snape stood up. "I will heal him now to the best of my ability. Can you clean up?"

Remus nodded, and Snape rushed off.


	7. Fragments

Chapter 7 "fragments"  
by Lia Tween

Remus licked his lower lip as he stared at the mess on the floor. He flicked his wand at the glass shards, and they didn't budge. He frowned slightly, tapping his wand. He picked up a bowl off the ledge and threw it at the ground. It smashed with a resounding clatter. He flicked his wand at it, and the pieces flew up into the wastebasket. He frowned. Well, he'd just have to clean up the old fashioned way.

He conjured up a bucket and soapy water with a few sponges. A little elbow grease never hurt. He began scrubbing up the blood that had spattered on the floor. As he scrubbed, he brushed the larger pieces of glass out of the way, to be swept up later. As he moved a large one aside, he noticed it was an odd color. He picked it up and nearly dropped it in surprise. It was like that muggle contraption. The telly. A moving picture flowed across the glass.

_"No! Don't!" Harry cried. He must have been about 12. "please." He begged, cowering on the floor as a man towered over him, fist raised menacingly. _

The scene replayed itself over and over again, and Remus gingerly set it back down and picked up another.

_"Hey Snivilus! What's cracking'?" Sirius called joyfully, followed by the Mauderers. "Shut up, pretty boy." Snape snapped, shutting his book quickly. "What are you reading? Another book on how to blow everyone to pieces?" "I'd like to blow you to pieces, you stupid jerk." Snape muttered, turning around._

Remus picked up another, determined to see every one.

_"Please Aunt Petunia, I've been in here for over a week, I need to eat. I can't live on water for more than 10 days, you now that!" "Don't give me ideas, boy." "Come on Aunt Petunia, I know you don't like washing the dishes yourself. Let me out." _

Harry acted like he was begging for an ice cream or a new toy. Remus realized that this must have been normal procedure to him; he probably didn't know how awful it was. He looked older in that one; it was recent.

"_Severus, come in here." Snape stood meekly at the door, a scrawny, ugly child of 10. "Yes Father?" "I want you to try out a new hex today." "Why don't I ever get to learn potions? Or at least Counter-Curses! I'm good at counter curses!" His Father let out an evil laugh. "You'd better be good at Counter-Curses…you refuse to learn any hexes…when it comes to a duel you'll be doing all defense." "I learn what you make me learn." Snape said through clenched teeth. "Then come learn. NOW!" the boy flinched at the violent temper._

"Oh no." Remus whispered. "Oh, this is bad. SEVERUS!" he bellowed. There was no answer. "Oh this is very, very bad." He stood up. "House elf! Oh, I don't know your bloody name. House elf!" He called, and a green head poked around the corner. "Can I be helping you sir?"

Remus nodded. "Please, put all the glass shards in a pile and leave them there, and clean up the blood stains please. Can you tell me where Severus has gone?" He asked the creature.

"He is gone to the lab room with the potions. I is not allowed in there, I isn't. It's below the kitchen." Remus rushed off.

He arrived in the lab entrance, panting. "Severus, you have to see this. It's bad. Oh this is horrible."

Snape looked up from his work. "You'll have to wait Remus. I have to get the boy stabilized."

Harry lay on the table, eyes open but unseeing. "He's not doing well. He seems terrorized and so full of pain. I don't really understand…" Severus mused.

"If you would LISTEN you would understand more. Can you leave him for a few minutes without him getting worse?"

Snape sighed heavily. "Very well." He bustled off after Remus.

Harry's mind was racing, frantically trying to make sense of all the new information. _Two parents who smiled. Two parents who hate me. They don't want me. Mother died. Then both smiley parents died. Green light. Left with Father. Left with Aunt and Uncle too. Aunt and Uncle hate me they lock me up and starve me and hit me. Father hits me too, but he makes me practice bad things. I hate when he makes me learn bad spells. I want to learn how to defend myself, or make potions to make all the hurt go away. Then letter comes. I'm happy to be away from my houses. I make two new friends. Ron and Hermione. They're nice. But James and Sirius and Peter and Remus are bad. They're bad to me. I hate them so much. And I hate me because I'm like James. And I like looking at Dark Curses to get back at my Father. Bad father. I'm joining with Voldemort. But I have to kill Voldemort. I'm so glad Sirius is dead because he was bad to me. But I'm sad for him. _

Pain. Lots of pain. Harry opened his eyes. It was nice and dark in the room, but he was kind of cold. His brain registered that he recognized everything in the room, even though it wasn't his. He racked his brain, trying to remember why he was in Snape's lab. Or even how he knew it was his, er SNAPE's, lab.

Suddenly, it seemed like he was hit by a truck. With a cry of anguish, he curled up in a ball; hit was a load of self loathing, hurt and anger that was so foreign to him.

"Look at these. The pieces from the pensieve show you what he put in there, and what YOU put in there. We can see what is going through his mind right now. All this is now in him."

Snape sat down and studied several pieces of glass. "What about the glass from the mirror?" he asked no one in particular.

"It appears that they have morphed into pensieve glass. That's why it got all liquidly."

"What are you talking about?" Snape snapped.

"You didn't hear Harry muttering when we entered the room? He was saying something about the puddle in the mirror. The pensieve spilled on the mirror, creating a world where all the memories, you're and his, were real. If he had gone through the mirror he would have been stuck there forever to suffer."

"Surely he has SOME happy memories!" Snape objected.

"Anything happy was taken away from him Severus. But even though the glass shattered before he could enter the mirror land, his head went through, giving him many of the memories there. Plus the pieces that entered his brain gave him some as well. So now instead of having memories in the mirror land, he has them here. You see Severus, now everything that you felt, he feels. Your past is now his past. So he has an abusive aunt and uncle as well as a controlling father who thought about nothing but himself. And now, because you hate James and Sirius and I, he hates us, but he knows that he cares for us, so he's going to be confused. And because you hate him, he will hate himself, and that's a lot of turmoil for one little boy."

Snape glared angrily at Remus. "You act like this is my fault! I can't help it that the stupid boy was so foolish!"

Remus shook his head. "That's the attitude that got Harry in this mess in the first place. We need to help him. Because you've unintentionally turned him against me…Severus…you is the only one who can help him distinguish his own memories."

Severus shook his head. "I don't know if I can."

They froze, both noticing the object on the floor at the exact same time. The object that had caused Harry to trip.


	8. Master of the Mind

Chapter 8 - "Master of the Mind"  
by Mila

It was a book. But not just any book.

"Good Lord," Remus breathed. "I thought the last copy was destroyed years ago -- in the Great Fire."

Severus just stared at the book, sitting there, looking oh-so-innocent. "A better question, Lupin, might be how did Potter get his hands on it?" he finally said, a bite in his voice. "I have never seen a copy of the book, nor would I have ever stored it with my penseive."

Remus stared at the book for a few seconds longer before bending over and picking it up gently. The way he handled it was akin to reverence as he ran his fingers along the cracked leather spine. "Gustav Török's _Of the Mind, the Memories, and the Mysteries_. Who would have thought?" he muttered to himself under his breath. Then he frowned. "Does it strike you as rather odd that of all the books to have caused Harry's current predicament, it would be this one?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Further proof that fate exists, obviously," he replied drily, never taking his eyes off of the book.

Remus nodded and carefully cracked open the cover of the book. Running his fingers along the title page, he commented offhandedly, "I have a question for you, Severus. Why exactly did you leave your memories lying around?"

And then, that characteristic Snape-glare was back 100. Remus ignored it and grinned back while closing up the book and tucking it under his arm. "Well, I'm headed to the library. I'll see if I can dredge up anything useful from Herr Török's lost tome," he said, his grin getting wider. "Weren't you going to work on some sort of potion to cure Harry?"

As Severus sucked in an affronted breath, Remus strode swiftly from the room without awaiting a reply.

* * *

While the subject matter was not one that Remus was particularly interested in, there was something about reading a previously lost book that made it fascinating. There was no doubt in Remus's mind that if it had been a treatise on the correct collection method of ground centaur hoof, he would still have found it fascinating... though probably a bit less so than this one.

Unfortunately for him, the book was written in Old English, with a decent amount of Kemi Sami thrown in. Unwilling to cast any sort of charm or hex on the brittle pages of the ancient tome, Remus finally decided to charm an old magnifying glass with a transitive matrix and attempt to read it that way.

The book itself was fascinating. As he fingered each page, he was acutely aware of the fact that a plethora of lost knowledge was sitting in his lap. But every time he felt the urge to read the book cover to cover, he ruthlessly crushed the urge and continued skimming for something -- _anything_ that could possibly help Harry.

* * *

Severus Snape stood in Harry's room, glaring at the thrice damned mirror. There was something decidedly _off_ about the thing. First off, it was incredibly old... much older than most of the other furniture in the building. It was also in a very old, outdated style that was immensely unpopular for all of time but its three year heyday. Nor did it match the decor of _any_ room... and especially not this room.

There was also the matter of that thrice damned book. The book that _conveniently_ appeared on the floor, behind Harry's feet, and in front of aforementioned mirror. Where could Potter have _ever_ have gotten his hands on that book? Or Black?

And if not either of them, then who?

He spied a flash on the floor out of the corner of his eye. It was a shard of mirror ... Lupin really had done an awfully shoddy job of cleaning up.

Picking up the glass carefully, he glanced at it as he moved to place it in his pocket. As he observed the images in the glass, he froze, eyes widening.

Another glint from the floor caught his attention, and he quickly moved to gather that piece of glass as well. He observed the scene in the glass, face becoming more astonished every second.

Ignoring all rules of propriety and damning the fact that Lupin might enter at any minute, Severus got onto his hands and knees and scoured the floor for any remaining mirror shards. Finding three, only two of which were just as astonishing as the first two, he quickly pocketed them all and swept from the room.

Their situation had just gotten a tiny bit more complicated.

* * *

"This is pointless," Remus complained loudly, rubbing his hand across his face tiredly as Severus entered the library. "Bloody brilliant or not, Herr Török can't seem to pick a single language to stick to. And he keeps swearing in Kemi Sami. There's a section in here that I think is Burgundian... but I can't tell you what the bloody hell it says because no-one's spoken Burgundian since the bleeding 6th century!"

Severus raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Frustrated, Lupin?"

Remus sighed and fixed his gaze on the Potions Master. "I think we should tell Dumbledore about this," he said at length.

"Then _you_ can be the one to explain why exactly the boy hero is lying in a veritable coma, completely and totally out of his mind," Severus replied drily before changing the subject. "I returned to Potter's room to see whether you missed any of the mirror shards during your clean up. Some of the shards had some odd images and I wish to have your input."

Remus nodded, putting aside his book and gesturing for Severus to set out the shards on the coffee table before him. As the Potions Master began setting out the shards, Remus picked one of them up and peered at it. "This one's one of Harry's," he said at length. "That's his uncle. It's pretty old -- Harry only looks five or six in this one."

Severus froze, hand hovering over the table. "Then, pray tell, why is Mister Potter being beaten in that memory?"

Remus frowned. "What? He's not --" he froze, watching the mini-drama unfold on the small glass shard. A myriad of emotions fluttered across his face before it became completely blank. "Ah. I see."

"Well?"

"It is not my place to tell," Remus replied, slipping the shard into his robe pocket. He picked up another shard and peered at it. "A man is casting a curse of some sort upon another man in this one. Who are these people?" he asked.

"I do not know," Severus replied, never taking his eyes off of the shard that he was observing. "I have never seen either of those people in my life. That is why I brought it here."

Remus made a noncommittal affirmative noise and returned to examining the image. "I don't think it's one of Harry's," he said at length. "These men -- their robes are cut in a very old style. 16th century? 17th century? Sometime around then. High collars, ruffled shirts, closed fronts on the robes, lace or ruffles on the shirt sleeves. Perhaps they are the memories of the mirror itself."

"Perhaps. The mirrors are charmed after all," Severus replied. He paused, and, unable to resist the jab, added, "I was unaware that you studied wizarding fashion, Lupin."

"It was a summer job, nothing more," Remus replied nonchalantly, placing the shard carefully onto the table and picking up another. "I think this one is the same way. The memory seems to be observing a house elf beating its head against the wall. They're all probably the memories of the mirror."

"That is what I surmised as well," Severus answered. "But unless a mirror suddenly learns the ability to read and write, I find that doubtful."

Severus showed Remus the shard, in which Remus observed someone's hand dipping a quill into a bottle of ink and carefully writing out words on the page. Squinting in order to try and make out the words being written, Remus froze in surprise. "Merlin," he breathed. "Can it be?"

Sitting up straight he quickly grabbed his book and began flipping through the pages, nearly tearing some in the process. "There! I knew I'd seen it before!" he finally exclaimed in triumph, turning the book to show the pages to his companion. There, on the page of the book, were the exact words that were being carefully transcribed onto the page in the memory shard. "It's Török's memory of writing his lost masterpiece."

They sat in silence, watching the hands carefully transcribe each word neatly to the page in the shard. At length, Remus sighed and said, "This day is a day for the history books. In twelve hours alone, we have found a lost masterpiece, uncovered a plethora of memories from a long-dead genius, and damned the entire wizarding world by allowing their hero to go insane. All in a day's work, eh, Severus?"

He paused and then continued. "Let's think on that now. Harry has his memories in his head, along with yours. But he also has the mirror's memories and impressions -- and Merlin only knows what that thing has seen. And he has all of Török's memories. This is going to be one seriously messed up kid."

Now, after sitting in silence for most of Remus's spiel, Severus spoke up. "What we have not explained is how Török's memories entered the mirror in the first place," he said.

"He was a master of the mind," Remus replied. "Who knows what he was capable of doing? Perhaps he made the mirror into one big penseive, one that he could have show a memory to a large group of people or something. I don't know."

They sat in silence, contemplating the information.

"Perhaps we should get the headmaster _now_?" Remus said at length.  



	9. Back to the Books

Chapter 9 – "Back to the Books"

by Ann

Key

'' is thoughts

"" is speech

"Lemon drop?" offered Dumbledore cheerfully.

Both of the increasingly impatient people in front him declined as politely as they could; both currently in foul moods.

"Remus, Severus. What do I owe this pleasure?" asked Albus, as he sat in his chair drinking his tea.

"Headmaster, we are here about a slight problem," began Remus. "It's about Török," he said.

"You see, we found Gustav Török's _Of the Mind, the Memories, and the Mysteries_, on the floor. Apparently Harry tripped over this book and then hit the mirror and the penseive."

"Get to the point Lupin, or I will, and I haven't got all day," interrupted an annoyed Severus.

"I was getting there, until you interrupted. Anyway, Harry is now lying in a veritable coma, completely and totally out of his mind. His mind is swarmed with his, Severus's, and Török's memories, and whatever that bloody mirror has seen," Remus explained quickly, not wanting to face the wrath of an angry Severus.

The headmaster just sat in his chair, the sparkle completely gone from his eyes. He sat like that for quite some time before he spoke again. "For the first time in a long while, I don't know what to do," he said. His face showed composure, yet his voice lacked emotion. He, for once, was at a loss of what to do.

Remus spoke up again, "Severus over here has begun work on some potions, trying to find a cure for Harry. I, on the other hand, have been in the library doing a light bit of reading," he said as he placed the large book on the Headmaster's desk.

Albus was quite shocked to see Gustav Török's _Of the Mind, the Memories, and the Mysteries. _"Why, I haven't seen this book in years.

Remus, where on earth did this come from?" he asked. The shock in his voice was apparent to all who were in the room.

"Like I said before, I found it on the floor. It seems that Harry tripped over it," Remus replied

"I have never seen a copy of the book, nor would I have ever stored it with my pensive," Severus added.

"Well," Albus began, "I don't know what to say or do, but I believe the library is a good place for you to start. There should be some good books in the restricted section; if not, you may use my personal library. I'm sorry to leave this in your hands, but I have to leave in the morning. I have Order business to attend to.

"You will be alright, I hope. Minerva should be returning late tomorrow night, and she should be able to help you. I wish you good luck and bid you both good night," he finished.

"Great!" exclaimed Remus, "Now look what you've done!"

"What I've done? Look at what you've done, Lupin. The Headmaster is gone tomorrow, and I'm stuck with you!" Severus shouted.

"No need to get angry. What's done is done and now we have to fix it, and if we want to get this done, we'll have to work together." Remus took a deep breath before continuing on, "That means we'll have to get along for a change. I'm willing to try if you are."

Severus thought it over for a minute before he stuck his hand for Remus to shake. And as they shock hands, Remus said, "Deal?"

"Deal," replied Severus, "But that does not mean I have to like it."

"Harry's memories" 

A little boy stood in front of his uncle, whose face looked ready to burst. He was only about six or seven and was in a small kitchen, pressed up against the ugly peach walls.

"Who do you think you are? Well, if you don't know, I'll tell you! You are a useless FREAK who is no good for anything except getting these chores done!"

As the large man continued to yell at the boy, he kept getting closer and backing the little boy into the corner.

'_What's going on?' Harry thought. 'That's me, when I was five and didn't finish the dishes on time.'_

_The scene changed and suddenly he was in the basement of a very large house._

_A large man with long greasy hair stood over his son and began to beat him with a large bullwhip._

"_What do you think you were doing? Having contact with a mudblood. You're a disgrace to the family name. That's no way for a Snape to act." The father yelled at his son between hitting him with the whip._

'_Why would father whip me for writing to Lily? It was just a letter.' was Harry's only thought at the moment. 'How could he do that to his own SON! I didn't mean to do anything wrong! It was just a simple little letter.'_

_The scene changed again and he was in very large room about 500 years ago. The room was finely furnished with beautiful chairs and a tall mirror standing against one wall. The mirror had intricate carvings on the wood that held the glass in place. Everything in the room was very old fashioned and extravagant. _

_There was a young man sitting at a desk. He had a large pile of papers in front of him and was writing what appeared to be a book._

"_Gustav, are you ready to go?" a woman yelled up to him. _

'_Why does she have to call me now? Does she not understand the importance of this book? It could change lives!' Harry was quite angry with his wife, as he was quite into his book. What he didn't quite understand was why he felt the way he did._

"_Just a minute, love!" he yelled back. "Just let me finish this page."_

"_We're late as it is! Hurry up!" she called to him again. _

As Gustav stood up, the world changed again.

Harry was back in the graveyard with Cedric, and Voldemort.

"Kill the Spare!" Voldemort yelled. He saw it all again, as Voldemort killed Cedric right in front of him.

_Then Harry's world went black. _


	10. The Last Memory

Curses through a Mirror Chapter 10: The last memory  
By chips challenge 

A/N: a few sentences were written by ckat44. This is the last chapter of our first RR fic. There's a vote up at the group about starting a new RR fic. Join the group to vote and or potentially take part in the next fic.

Professor Snape walked into Potter's room and transfigured a chair to sit on beside the boy's bed. Potter was asleep now, but he could tell that the boy was having nightmares. He had talked with Lupin and he had talked with the headmaster and together they had decided that the only way Harry would be able to get through this would be to have someone enter his mind and help him sort out his memories. That someone would have to be him, because some of the memories were his, and he would be the best one to recognize Harry's memories due to his close contact with the boy during Occlumency lessons.

He looked deeply into Potters closed eyes and said, "Legilimens!"

Snape had to force himself to relax as he was pulled into Harry's memories.

"You will be in Slytherin my son, or you are not welcome in this home. Do you understand me?" Harry nodded at his mother.

"Torok, what are you doing? I told you not to put the wignetree bark in the cauldron! The potion will turn out wrong!" Harry felt bad for making his teacher upset, but he knew the only way to create something new was to try something different. He just wanted to see what would happen if wigentree bark were added to the potion.

Then, Harry felt someone grab his collar tightly from behind and throw him into the cupboard under the stairs. "Stay there, you will not eat for a week!" his Uncle Vernon yelled at him.

Snape grabbed at the memory of his mother first and placed his wand to his temple sending it swiftly to the new pensive. He was also pretty sure that the potion making memory did not belong to Potter either and so he removed that one as well. At this rate, it would be a very slow and imprecise process removing all the wrong memories from Potter's mind. And Potter would have to remember or have all the memories in his conscious mind for this to even work. If he didn't then some of the memories would stay dominant and could pop up at any time. There had to be another way to do it. He would have to force the boy to remember the things that had just recently been dumped into his mind.

Snape knew that he would be able to attract his own memories if he could get deep enough into Potter's mind, which was somewhere that he really had no desire to go. But once there, he would be able to call his own memories towards him, and he did remember which memories he had put in the pensive. There weren't that many of his memories there. However getting Torok's memories out would be more difficult. Snape took a deep breath and allowed himself to fall deeper into Potter's mind. "Legilimens Persona" he said and waited. Snape soon found himself back in his sixth year being tortured by Potter and his friends, but he didn't let himself become lost in the memory instead he quickly passed it on to the pensive. His memories kept coming steadily, and he passed them on as quickly. Within a half hour all of his memories had been safely passed out of Harry's mind and back into a pensive. Now he just had to figure out how to separate Torok's memories.

Snape withdrew himself from Harry's mind and watched as Potter fell back into a somewhat more restful sleep. Without as many conflicting memories, Potter wouldn't be in danger of losing his mind so quickly. He had a little bit of time to work on a solution.

Snape decided to call a meeting of the available Order members together to help him come up with a solution for getting out Torok's memories.

"Is anyone familiar with Torok's history?" Snape asked. He was really hoping that someone would be and that he could pass the responsibility of going back into Potter's mind to someone else.

Everyone looked at each other blankly except for the headmaster who gave away nothing with his expression. Snape was pretty sure that Dumbledore knew something, but he also knew that Dumbledore wouldn't go into Potter's mind under any condition – unless there was not other way. And Snape was sure that Dumbledore would always find another way.

"Alright, well I can not just sift through his mind and try to find just those memories. That task is too difficult, and if Potter is not consciously thinking about the memories, I will not be able to extract them. We must find a way to attract the memories and force them to the front of Potter's consciousness to the exclusion of his own memories."

"What if we used one of his books to attract the memories?" Lupin suggested. "Did he ever write a diary?"

"If so, I seriously doubt that Black would have had a copy of it," Snape said. "I don't see why Torok would have bothered to remove those memories if he thought they were important enough to record in a diary."

"Maybe he did just that so that he could read through the memories without having to experience them directly," Lupin replied.

"But the memories came from the book not from Torok himself didn't they?" Tonks spoke up. "Perhaps the book held Toroks's memory in the same way that Tom Riddle held his memories in that diary. Do you think there is a way that we could use that book to attract the memories?"

"Perhaps," Snape said and he turned to Dumbledore. Any spellwork that allowed the memory storage would be difficult and would likely require the magic of several wizards and the expertise of the headmaster.

"We will need one of Torok's relatives to complete the spell," Dumbledore said.

Snape sighed with exasperation. Torok had been dead for many years; his lineage was not well known. For all they knew someone in this very room could be a blood relative of Torok, or there could be no blood relatives alive anywhere.

Dumbledore crossed the room to the family tree that was plastered on the wall. This was a tree of the Black family, but Dumbledore taped his wand to it and instantly it changed to Toroks and several names at the bottom glowed lightly.

"Those glowing names are relatives that are still alive," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps you should look more closely at that, Severus," he said tapping his wand towards one of the names at the bottom of the tree.

Severus looked closely at the new tree and was not that surprised to find his own name there. Dumbledore must have known this because he didn't seem surprised either.

"You have had some great Potion's Masters in your bloodline."

"Humph," Snape said though he couldn't say that he was displeased to find that he was somewhat distantly related to Torok.

"Okay, so what does this spell involve?" Snape asked.

"We'll just need a little of your blood and a potion that I'm sure will be no problem for you to create. The plans are in one of Torok's books that is present in this house," Dumbledore said.

'Have you read absolutely every book in the world?' Snape wanted to ask but he didn't and just nodded.

"I'll help Severus get started with the potion," Dumbledore said, "and then we can discuss the spells that will be required to make Severus become Torok for a moment."

"What?" Snape asked. "I didn't agree to anything like that. Taking on another's memories is very dangerous as we all know from the stupid thing that Potter did. I'm not going to put myself in the same situation."

"It will not be the same," Dumbledore said calmly. "For the time that you are Torok, you will be Torok and not Severus. You will never have the memories of both persons. You will not have mixed memories."

"If that is so, then how will I remember what I am supposed to be doing?"

"You won't, but Torok is a reasonable man and with just a short explanation he will be able to and willing to help Harry."

"I suppose you knew him then," Snape said.

Dumbledore didn't reply but simply winked. Infuriated, Snape left the room quickly heading towards the workroom. He was not happy about any of this situation that he felt forced upon him, but he did realize that he was likely the only one who could help Potter, and as much as he hated the child, he didn't wish him to go insane. But Snape did want to want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Harry my boy, time to wake up. I think you have something that belongs to me," a deep voice said.

The voice seemed somehow familiar to Harry, but he couldn't place it. He didn't feel threatened though, and so he replied, "Something of yours? Who are you?"

"Torok."

"Torok? But I'm Torok," Harry said.

"I thought you were Harry."

"I…I don't know."

"It's all right. Just relax. I'm going to call my memories towards me, and soon you'll be free of them and less confused. Just try not to fight the memories."

Harry waited and soon memories started flying around in his head. But one by one the memories flew out, and he started feeling what he knew was more normal.

"That's about all," Torok said.

"About?"

Harry felt himself being pulled towards a specific memory. He was preparing a potion meticulously and writing some things down in a large book. The language looked strange, but he could understand it. The spell was difficult, the potion was complicated, everything seemed way beyond his ability, but he could do it. He understood it and he knew how useful it could be to him in the future.

"I want you to keep this one. The reason that I saved my memories in this way was so that I could give it to someone who would be able to use it to prevent what I couldn't. You can use it fight the darkness that is overcoming your world now. Use it well."

"Thank You," Harry replied.

The end

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